However, Noah glimpsed hope in her words. Swallowing hard, he asked seriously,
“Do you know the method?”
“No.”
Karia shook her head without a second thought. From the start, human magic and elven magic were fundamentally different. Since she was not an elf, she could not generate mana within her body and therefore could not use elven magic. She had never even considered researching it.
“—I see.”
“But I can introduce you to someone who knows the method.”
“Please, I beg you!”
Just as disappointment washed over Noah’s face, she once again offered him a sliver of hope. With every word she spoke, Noah’s emotions swung between heaven and hell. Karia leisurely enjoyed the sight.
Look at him fidget like that. How adorable.
She wasted an entire week thinking about Noah. Surely, this much light revenge was acceptable. To be honest, she had wanted to make him suffer with anxiety for a full week just as she had—but seeing his face softened her heart. Well, at least he had come back.
“But there are conditions.”
“—Conditions?”
“Did you think you’d receive help without paying any price?”
At the look in her eyes that seemed to ask whether he was really that shameless, Noah subtly lowered his gaze. He looked pitiful and vulnerable. But Karia knew it was calculated. Confident in his looks, he knew exactly how to use his face to his advantage.
When she stared at him without giving an inch or changing her expression, Noah let out a small sigh. There was no room for negotiation. At this moment, she was the only hope he could grasp.
“First, you will return as a guard to the estate.”
“Of course… No—yes. I will.”
“Second, do not pry into my past. I will do the same.”
“—Understood.”
“Third, you will move into the town house and live there.”
At her final condition, Noah sharply raised his head. When confusion spread across his face, Karia clicked her tongue and frowned.
“Do you remember confessing to me that day?”
“—Ah.”
“‘Ah’?”
She was right. The day they had tumbled down the stairs together and his secret had been exposed, he had confessed his feelings to her. Karia had responded quite positively—but he had been so shocked at being discovered that he had forgotten everything and run away.
As the memories came flooding back, Noah’s face flushed bright red, as though it might burst if left alone. He could not forgive himself for what he had done.
How could I boldly confess… and then run away like that?!
Unable to face Karia any longer, Noah turned his back and tried to compose his ruined expression. He didn’t understand why all his composure vanished and only clumsiness remained whenever he stood before her.
—Wait. Move into the house?
After vigorously rubbing his face, realization struck him.
Unlike other noble estates, the town house consisted of a single three-story building. That meant living under the same roof.
Of course, some members of the Black Night guard stayed within the estate—but in this context, it wasn’t an offer made merely for convenience.
In other words, this was exactly what he had hoped for when he confessed: sharing meals together. Every day.
“Does my lady love me… I mean, do you feel the same way I do?”
“Well…”
Karia quietly watched Noah glance back at her over his shoulder. She was not of the same mind as him—at least, not clearly. Yet she herself could not identify this strange feeling that arose whenever she looked at him.
At first, she had kept him close because he reminded her of Guildford. His face resembled that of the husband she had loved more than life itself, and that alone had drawn her to him. But that was only the beginning.
“I want to confirm it—for myself. What kind of feelings I truly have for you.”
As she waited for him for a week, irritation welled inside her, and with it came a contradictory impulse.
She had loved Guildford as her husband, but they had never been carefree companions. They had always been a man and a woman. Yet when she looked at Noah’s face, a playful urge rose within her, and she found that she didn’t dislike teasing him.
Guildford had always been a perfect gentleman—mature from the moment they met, someone she never needed to protect or care for. Noah, on the other hand, grew tense and made mistakes in front of her. And she didn’t hate that either.
Her wavering heart disgusted her.
All I want is to return everything to the time when my life was at its happiest—to that moment.
That was why she had to be sure.
Whether he only seemed lovable because she thought of Guildford when she looked at him, or whether she was simply bewitched by a man who resembled Guildford.
And above all, she had to confirm whether he truly was Guildford’s reincarnation.
If she observed him long enough, she would know. She knew Guildford’s tastes, preferences, and even his smallest habits.
“Until then, you are my gentleman alone. Stay by my side.”
Karia extended her hand toward him. She did not forcefully seize his hand—the choice to grasp it was his.
“As my lady wishes.”
Smiling brightly, Noah took her hand and kissed it, unaware of one thing: in the relationship Karia was about to begin, there was no place for Noah.
* * *
Smack!
A handkerchief carried by the wind struck Karia squarely in the face, as if it had aimed for her.
“Oh my! My handkerchief has a mind of its own!”
“—Hmph.”
“Thank you for catching my handkerchief! Oh—what a coincidence! Could you perhaps be the Duchess of Pandeon?”
At the exaggerated, theatrical tone, Karia’s face hardened instantly. Today, she had encountered an unusual number of “coincidental” handkerchiefs.
Once, one had flown into her face.
Three times, she had stepped on neatly placed handkerchiefs.
And four times, men she had never seen before had chased her down, claiming she had dropped theirs.
“Do you remember me? I am Elaine, the second son of Count Gazef. We met at the wedding.”
“…….”
“Oh dear… how thoughtless of me. I heard the news. That you recently divorced. I’ve heard there were many issues between you and Duke Pandeon.”
Karia silently glared at the weasel-faced man who had accosted her in the middle of the street. Spittle flew from his mouth as he enthusiastically carried on a one-sided conversation she had never agreed to join.
Without a word, she turned her head and looked at Aquil behind her. Moments later, Elaine, the second son of Count Gazef, was lifted like baggage and hurled far away.
“Is a handkerchief mandatory for flirting these days?”
Though it was already the threshold of winter and cold enough to pull one’s coat tighter against the wind, the street they walked along was crowded with people. Strangely enough, many were nobles dressed in their finest attire.
The narrow street, too cramped for carriages, was lined with workshops of skilled artisans. Ordinarily, nobles had little reason to walk here—but today it was bustling entirely because of her.
“Since you refuse all visits, it seems they’ve changed tactics. They likely followed your carriage.”
Karia clicked her tongue in irritation. As he said, her carriage was among the most lavish in the capital. They must have stationed people near the town house and followed her the moment she went out.
With the social season in full swing, gossip was the finest delicacy at noble tea tables. And hadn’t she just obtained the grand title of Marquess of Balta? Curiosity was inevitable—and so was the desire to form connections. As nobles competed to thrust their “presentable” sons before her, Karia’s expression grew increasingly murderous.
“Well, look who this is! What an incredible coincidence!”
And just before reaching her destination, that perfectly timed greeting sent her mood plunging to its lowest point.
“—Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”
“Lift your head. What need is there for such formality between siblings?”
Crown Prince Robert, astride a sleek black horse, waved his hand and dismounted. He wore an air of mild reproach, though Karia could not recall when they had ever become “siblings.”
Alcard, who accompanied him, seemed to feel the same, his expression darkening.
The Emperor cherished his younger brother and treated the duke’s children as his own—but Robert did not. He tacitly supported the nobles who argued that the definition of direct imperial family should be narrowed from within four degrees of kinship to just two.
In front of the family-loving Emperor, he pretended otherwise—but to Robert, Karia, Grenberic, and even Alcard were closer to subordinates than family.
And now, such transparent pretense. Whatever he was plotting, there was clearly an ulterior motive.
“I almost didn’t recognize you. Your attire has changed completely. Simple clothes suited you well, but now that you’re dressed so splendidly, you finally look like royalty. You seem to enjoy dressing up like this—how lonely you must have been all this time.”
“…….”
Robert spoke with a kindly smile, but there was nothing kind in his words. Turned around, they implied that she had never looked like royalty before—and served as a mocking reminder that she had lived without even proper maintenance funds while in Pandeon.
